Confederate Drill Manuals

The eleven manuals listed below are some of the known tactical manuals employed by the cavalry, artillery and mounted infantry of the Confederate Army during the War Between the States. Each is listed by its author’s name.

Comprised from the collections of various University Libraries, Historical Societies, Museum of the Confederacy, Federal Government holdings in the National Archives, etc. and listed in the Unofficial Publications of the Confederate States of America, CONFEDERATE IMPRINTS (Confederate Documents and Books Index), By Marjorie Crandall, Boston Antheneum, 1954.

ANDREWS MOUNTED ARTILLERY DRILL:

One of the first ever printed on subject of Light artillery and the first published including Horse Artillery. Teaching a gun crew drill for the piece and battery plus evolutions of several batteries when maneuvering. Reprint by Bohemian Brigde Bookshop, Knoxville, Tenn., 2000, 164 Pg plus plates.

ARENTSSCHILDT, FRIEDRICH VON: (1861)

Instructions on outpost duty for officers and non_commissioned officers of cavalry. By Lt. Col. A. Von Arentsschildt, First King’s German Legion. With an abridgment of them by Lt. Col., the Honorable F. Ponsonby, Twelfth Light Dragoons, Ft. McCullough, June 1861. Printed by J.W. Randolph, 121 Main St. Richmond, Va. 70 pages with illustrations.

Cavalry tactics or regulations for the instruction, formation and movements of the cavalry of the army and volunteers of the United States. By Philip St. Geo. Cooke, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, Vols. I & II. Printed by J.B. Liffincott & Co., Philadelphia, Pa.

Confederate copy printed by order of Lt. Gen E. Kirby Smith for use of the cavalry of the Trans_Mississippi Department, C.S. Army. Printed by the Texas Printing House, Houston Texas. 1863. 66 pages with plates. Also printed at the Job Office of the Caddo Gazette, Shreveport, Louisiana, 1865.

COOPER, SAMUEL: (1861)

Cooper’s cavalry tactics for use of volunteers. To which is added a manual for Colt’s revolver. By Adj. Gen. Samuel Cooper. U.S. Army. Printed by Charles Desilver, Philadelphia, 1855

The Trooper’s Manual: or Tactics for Light Dragoons and Mounted Riflemen. Compiled, abridged and arranged by Col. J Lucius Davis, graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, formerly an officer of the U.S. Army and for many years commander and instructor of volunteer cavalry. Published by A. Morris, Richmond Va. 1861 (Third Edition 1862). 284 pages.

GILHAM, WILLIAM: (1861)

Cavalry Tactics. Taken from Gilham’s Manual of Instruction for Volunteers and Militia and adopted as the standard authority for the State of Texas, embracing the school of the trooper, the school of the troop and the organization of cavalry. Galveston, Texas. Printed at the “News” Office by D. Richardson. 1861. 85 pages.

NOLAN, LEWIS EDWARD: (1864)

Cavalry, its history and tactics. By Captain L.E. Nolan, 15th Hussars. First American edition from the second London edition. Evans and Cogswell, Columbia. S.C. 1864. 202 pages.

PATTEN, GEORGE WASHINGTON: (1862)

Cavalry Drill and sabre exercise; compiled agreeably to the latest regulations of the War Department, from the standard military authority. By George W. Patten. Published by J.W. Fortune, No. 102 Centre St., New York, 1861.

Confederate copy by George W. Patten. Printed by West & Johnson, 145 Main St. Richmond. Va. 1862. 165 pages.

WHEELER, JOSEPH: (1863)

A revised system of Cavalry tactics, for the use of the cavalry and mounted infantry, C.S.A. By Major General Joseph Wheeler, Chief of Cavalry, Army of Tennessee, C.S.A. Printed by S.H. Goetzel & Co., Mobile, 1863

and…………….

MAURY, CAPT. D.H.: SKIRMISH DRILL FOR MOUNTED TROOPS

The entry in T. Michael Parrish and Robert M. Willingham, Jr.’s Confederate Imprints: A Bibliography of Southern Publications from Secession to Surrender (Austin, Texas: Jenkins Publishing Co. and Ketonah, New York: Gary A. Foster, 1980) shows five seperate known Confederate editions of Maury’s Skirmish Drill for Mounted Troops. They are:

3. Skirmish Drill for Mounted Troops by Capt. D.H. Maury, C.S.A. (Richmond: J.W. Randolph, 1861). This edition was bound with Samuel Cooper’s Cavalry Tactics For Use of the Volunteers: To Which is Added, A Manual for Colt’s Revolver (New Orleans: H.P. Lanthrop, 1861). Original copy at: Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

4. Skirmish Drill for Mounted Troops. Printed by Order of the War Department (Charleston: S.G. Courtnay, Publisher, 1861). Original copies at: University of South Carolina in Columbia, Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

5. Skirmish Drill for Mounted Troops. Printed by Order of the War Department (Mobile: Farrow & Dennett, Printers, 1863). This edition includes manual of arms for Sharp’s carbine and Colt’s navy revolver by Capt. R.W. Johnson, 2nd Reg’t. Cavalry.

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Ken R. Knopp

Historian and Author Ken R. Knopp has published a collection of his research and findings in three comprehensive books and dozens of previously published articles. The articles & photos are copyrighted and NOT available without written permission.